CHAP, vn.] MARRIED LIFE. 161 



than from a studied conviction of merit, and to spend 

 that commendation in generalities and circumlocutions, 

 until a decided and general opinion in favour of a new 

 view or discovery shall have placed the wary advocate 

 on the sure ground of participating in a victory, and not, 

 even by remote possibility, of being plunged in the con- 

 sequences of a defeat. 



' You have done three things for me, any one of which 

 would deserve my sincere thanks. 1. You have read 

 my book carefully, and really studied the theory you 

 undertook to judge. 2. You have allowed yourself to 

 be convinced by arguments, unswayed by the force of 

 opinion against them. 3. You had the moral courage to 

 stand forth, whilst most if not all hesitate, to express 

 your convictions with a force and clearness which alone 

 must carry much weight in public opinion, and exactly 

 at a time when such assistance and public acknowledg- 

 ment are most valuable and most hard to be had. 



'The flattering terms in which you have expressed 

 yourself as to the difficulty and importance of this and 

 such like generalizations, exaggerated as they will no 

 doubt appear to many persons, are such as find an echo 

 in the heart of the person most immediately interested, 

 who feels his own travail of mind portrayed with a force 

 and reality which seems more like a dream of egotism 

 than the public sympathy of a kindred spirit. It was 

 this which so deeply touched me, and you know by ex- 

 ence tin- value of so rare and entire a sympathy. It 

 is impossible for me to express all I have felt on the 

 subject, and I will not attempt it, but conclude by 

 assuring you that you have added a very deep debt to 

 n wliirh I already o\\c you. I was quite struck by 

 apparent facility with which you had seized the 

 bearings <>f this intricate subject, but which must, I know, 



cost you much time and labour. The tabular \i 

 add much to the clearness. 



' I have had a j.n-tty extensive correspondence on the 

 subject with different continental philosophers, who 1, 

 proposed tonic their difficulties with much frankness; 



M 



